/m/dugout

Reader Comments and Retorts

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

A pretty blah Birthday Team. Upton's a good ballplayer, obviously. Wilson has the all-time single season triples record, which is fun. Gould is one of the least successful managers in MLB history, with a career record of 11-77.

Stearns and Berenyi have always been sort of linked in my mind as guys I know played for the Mets of the early 1980s, but who I don't remember actually ever seeing play for the Mets of the early 1980s.

Drafted by Jim Hart for the Chicago Orphans in 1898, Isbell became a hero before appearing in a single major league game. On April 16, 1898, the grandstand at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis burned down during a game, injuring dozens. Isbell, taking tickets at the ballpark gate, witnessed a fleeing family leave an infant behind as their home across from the ballpark erupted in flames. Isbell ran into the burning house, grabbed the baby, and carried it to safety.

Game of the day (yesterday): Nationals 5, Braves 4 (13). The starters were Jordan Zimmermann for Washington and Tim Hudson for Atlanta - at least arguably each team's best. So naturally, the Braves got a run in the top of the first, when Martin Prado doubled and Jason Heyward singled him home. And naturally, the Nats countered immediately, with a double from Jayson Werth, an RBI single by Bryce Harper, a single by Ryan Zimmerman moving Harper to second, a pair of groundouts advancing both runners a base each (the second one driving Harper in), and a two-run homer by Ian Desmond to cap the four-run outburst.

Zimmermann held the Braves without any further scoring until the fourth, when Freddie Freeman walked, Dan Uggla doubled, and Paul Janish singled to bring Freeman home. Atlanta scored again in the fifth with a familiar combination from earlier in the evening; this time, Prado singled, and Heyward tied the game with a two-run homer. Meanwhile, Hudson contained the Nats through the sixth, and new Washington pitchers Tom Gorzelanny and Ryan Mattheus did the same to the Braves in the sixth and seventh.

Werth led off the seventh with a double, leading to Hudson's removal from the game. Jonny Venters entered, Harper bunted Werth to third, Zimmerman was intentionally walked, and Mike Morse hit into a double play. Drew Storen worked the top of the eighth, allowing a leadoff hit to Brian McCann and adding a walk later in the inning, but no runs scored. Eric O'Flaherty's eighth was even more adventurous - a single to Adam LaRoche, who took second on a wild pitch, a walk to Danny Espinosa, a hit by Kurt Suzuki to load the bases with one out, and then a popup and a flyout to escape the jam. Atlanta put two on with one out in the ninth against Sean Burnett, but didn't score; the Nats didn't put anyone on against Chad Durbin in the bottom of the inning, and the game proceeded to extras.

Tyler Clippard and Luis Avilan were both spotless in the tenth. Mike Gonzalez allowed a leadoff double to Prado in the eleventh, but retired the next three Braves to strand him; Avilan allowed a one-out hit to Steve Lombardozzi, but stranded him in turn. Craig Stammen walked Janish with two away in the twelfth, which made him the inning's only baserunner as Cristhian Martinez worked a spotless bottom of the inning. Stammen was flawless in the thirteenth, which brought Martinez back to the mound.

Ian Desmond led off with an infield hit; Espinosa then bunted into a force, but Suzuki followed with a second infield single that moved Espinosa to third (he was running on the pitch and the third baseman and shortstop both went for the ball). Up next was pinch hitter Chad Tracy (still in the majors, apparently. With the infield in, he grounded to Uggla at second; Uggla made a diving stop, popped up, looked home... and dropped the ball. Present day baseball convention apparently requires this to be scored as a hit, although having watched the video of the play, I don't know why. Regardless, that's a game winning rally composed of three infield hits.

Apart from the 13 innings of this game, the thing that jumps out to me the most is the aesthetically pleasing use of the bullpens. There were 14 pitchers in the game, meaning a total of 12 pitching changes. Of those changes, only one came in the middle of an inning, and that one was the removal of a starter, not a reliever who'd only pitched to one batter. That works very well for me as an observer of baseball.

There are some days with extra inning games when I look at the scores and say, "maybe that 4-1, 10-inning game will lose to one of the regulation games." I kind of like those days, because they reassure me that my system’s affection for bonus baseball isn’t too extreme.

Then there are some days when I look at the scores and say, “Nope, the nine-inning games aren’t winning today.” Except that’s not exactly what I say; it’s more along the lines of, “Holy crap, those games look awesome.”

Since Colorado starter Esmil Rogers has a career ERA of 6.11, it’s not an utter shock that LA scored twice in the first. Tony Gwynn Jr. led off with a single, Justin Sellers followed with a ground-rule double, Aaron Miles (batting third?) flied out, Matt Kemp was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Juan Rivera singled to bring in a pair. Trent Oeltjen then struck out, and Kemp was thrown out stealing on strike 3.

Eric Young Jr. demonstrated the manufactured run to perfection in the bottom of the first. He drew a leadoff walk from Ted Lilly, and one out later, stole second and third on consecutive pitches. The pitch after that, Carlos Gonzalez brought him in with a groundout. One inning later, Todd Helton scored the tying run while rounding the bases with somewhat less urgency after his solo homer.

LA left two runners in the second, and did so again in the third. After Rogers struck out to start the bottom of the inning, Young went back to work tormenting Lilly. He walked again, and stole second again; rather than have him steal third, Lilly threw a wild pitch to make it a bit easier on him, and Gonzalez scored him from there with a single, giving Colorado its first lead of the day.

Did it last? Esmil Rogers was pitching, remember? Jamey Carroll led off the fourth with a single. He was forced at second on Gwynn’s grounder, but Gwynn made up for it on the next play – he was running with the pitch when Justin Sellers hit a gapper, and scored from first on what B-R lists as a single (with Sellers taking second on the throw home). Checking the video, it looks like a double to me, but I can see the argument. Regardless, Miles and Kemp added singles of their own to bring Sellers home with the go-ahead run.

Lilly worked a scoreless fourth, and Rogers contained the Dodgers in the fifth. With two out in the bottom of the inning, Young came up again, and Lilly found yet another way to allow him to reach third: he gave up a triple. After issuing a walk to Dexter Fowler, Lilly was removed, and Hong-Chih Kuo fanned Gonzalez to end the inning.

Rogers worked a scoreless sixth, and Kuo combined with Josh Lindblom to do the same. In the seventh, Matt Belisle took the mound for Colorado and retired the Dodgers in order. Chris Iannetta led off the bottom of the inning with a double against Lindblom, and two outs later, Young tormented LA’s pitching staff once more, this time with a game-tying RBI single. The Dodgers put the tying run on third with two away in the eighth, thanks to a single, a sac bunt, and a wild pitch, but it stayed there at the end of the inning. The Rockies could manage only a pinch hit single by Jason Giambi in the ninth, and the game went to extras from there.

Josh Roenicke walked Oeltjen with one out in the tenth and allowed him to steal second, but stranded him there. In the bottom of the inning, Matt Guerrier allowed a one-out single to Mark Ellis, who had replaced the heretofore unstoppable Young in the top of the inning. Ellis took second on a groundout and saw Gonzalez intentionally walked behind him before Troy Tulowitzki flied out to abandon both runners. Roenicke was perfect in the eleventh; Mike MacDougal was not. Helton led off with a single. Pinch hitter (and usual starting pitcher) Jason Hammel bunted him to second, and a wild pitch moved him to third. MacDougal then intentionally walked Iannetta and Seth Smith back-to-back, loading the bases; the gambit paid off when Chris Nelson hit into a force at home, and Ellis followed that with a force at third.

Matt Reynolds came on to pitch the twelfth, and Miles made Don Mattingly look like a genius for hitting him third: he led off the inning with a home run. Kemp followed with a single, but was picked off of first, and Rivera grounded out. Oeltjen was up next, and lifted a soft, sinking liner to shallow center. Fowler inexplicably dove for the ball, which he didn’t really have a chance to catch; it skipped past him all the way to the wall, and Oeltjen motored around the bases for a single plus three base error that baseball convention demands be scored as an inside the park homer.

Javy Guerra entered to close things out. His efforts did not go famously well. Fowler drew a walk to start the inning; Gonzalez lined out, but Tulowitzki singled Fowler to third. Helton followed with a double to drive in one run and move the tying tally to third, and pinch hitter Eliezer Alfonzo grounded to third to even the score. Iannetta struck out looking, leaving the winning run at second.

JC Romero worked around Carroll’s leadoff hit in the thirteenth. Blake Hawksworth pitched the bottom of the inning, and retired the first two Rockies on popups to short. Ellis doubled, however, and Fowler completed his ITPHR atonement by rifling the ball up the left field line, scoring Ellis easily with the winning run.

Biggest note from the game (apart from its excellence, ranking 13th on the year so far) is the performance the Rockies got from the #1 spot in the order. Between Young and Ellis, they were 4/5 with a double, a triple, two walks, three steals, three runs scored (including the go-ahead run twice) and one RBI (the tying run). That’s... pretty good.